Super simple sunshine smoothie

It’s taking forever for spring to bloom in Chicago so I decided to take it upon myself to add a little more sunshine in my life. Since I’m not able to vacation anytime soon I figured I could bring the sun to my kitchen with this delicious vegan citrus based smoothie. I picked up a pineapple at Whole Foods last weekend and I really needed to cut into it so I knew this would be the base for my smoothie. I try to keep my freezer stocked with frozen mangos so those were definitely going into it. I also had a bag of Halo mandarins around, which I was a bit skeptical about (isn’t it past their season?), but they turned out to be perfect. I used those in another recipe that I’ll be sharing soon (hint: there’s a photo on my instagram account).

I’m trying to start creating youtube videos! I love watching food, vegan and zero-waste videos on youtube, they’re always inspiring and really help to reinforce my commitment to veganism. There are so many skeptics in real life, that I feel like they can make it extremely difficult for someone who’s new to veganism (like me) to stay focused and committed if there isn’t someone close to support them. All the info that’s available online has been so helpful. All the different cooking styles that people have keep it real and attainable for me. I really think there’s never been a better time to become a vegan. I’m just in awe of many of the people I follow who have been doing it for so long. As always, my intent is to help inspire others who might be considering this new lifestyle, to show them how easy it is! I tend to think “everyone knows how to do this” or “who hasn’t heard of that?!”, but then I talk with a co-worker or someone at the grocery store and they don’t know! How many of you know about Aquafaba? I just learned about it last week! Long story short, I want to create videos to show how easy it is to be vegan!

I hope you enjoy my first little recipe video. While editing, I realized that I didn’t have footage of adding the mango–I forgot to turn the camera on for that part! You can see the chunks at the top of the blender, right before I turn it on. I have some learning to do with recipe video making, I guess!

Add everything to your blender, depending on what type of blender you have you might need to add the fruit in portions so it blends easier. Add a cup of fruit and some liquid, blend until smooth, add another cup of fruit, blend until smooth.

You might need to add more liquid than I have listed depending on how thick you want your smoothie.

Add your optional ingredients once the main ingredients are well blended.